Total Eclipse Of The Heart
by McGonagall's Bola
Summary: Whom do you turn to when everything falls apart? Horatio/Frank -REWRITTEN!


BETA READ by _CSI Jaina_

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The lyrics used in this piece of fan-fiction, are from _Total Eclipse of the Heart. _I don't own anything; it belongs to Bonnie Tyler.

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**This is a rather experimental take on song-fiction.**

**I know that the lyrics featured below are not chronological at all, and that's because my beta and I have tried to make them fit with the fan-fiction, instead of having the fan-fiction fit with the lyrics. This is the result of her and mine's combined ideas.**

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_Once upon a time I was falling in love  
But now I'm only falling apart  
There's nothing I can do  
A total eclipse of the heart_

_Now and then I get a  
little bit lonely and you're never coming around _

"Frank?" Horatio called. "Francis?"

The sergeant suddenly seemed to realize someone was talking to him and shook his balding head. "Oh, sorry. So, the male victim was found here at his own home around eleven. His seventeen-year-old daughter and her boyfriend," Frank nodded briefly towards a young couple currently being questioned by a police officer in a light brown outfit, "were supposed to have dinner here, but found him with a bullet hole in the head. A 9mm was found next to him, and Natalia has already checked for GSR. She found some residue on his right hand. His ex-wife had just gotten custody over their three children. I think this is a textbook example of understandable suicide."

Horatio gave Frank a sideways glance, but nodded. "I think you're right, but we're all familiar with protocol..."

"Hmm."

"Francis, are you all right, pal?" The red headed Crime Lab Supervisor wondered, placing his hands on his hips and looking sideways at the sergeant. He'd never seen his best friend like this before. Absentminded. Brokenhearted. Francis 'Frank' Tripp was surely not someone that was particularly good at hiding something, let alone his mood and how he felt.

"Yeah, sure."

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_Every now and then I get a  
little bit angry and I know I've got to get out and cry_

"Get lost, ginger!" Frank bellowed.

Horatio swallowed; thank goodness he'd decided to drive past Frank's on the way home. Just to check up on him, he'd thought. Apparently he'd be at Frank's a little longer than he'd had in mind.

Horatio hadn't failed to notice the halfway empty bottle of liquor in the sergeant's hand before the front door was being slammed closed. Horatio managed to push his right shoe in between before it fell into its locker, and slipped inside before closing the door gently behind him.

"Francis," the red haired man spoke in a friendly, yet very serious tone, as he looked up at his best friend. Without words, the balding man staggered towards his living room and sank down on the couch, head in his hands while still tightly clutching the bottle of spirits. Horatio followed quietly and sank down on one knee in front of his friend. "Francis," he repeated, and touched the bottle of liquor, but the sergeant wouldn't let go of it. "Frank, whatever it is... Alcohol won't solve anything."

That seemed to do it. Horatio managed to wriggle the bottle out of Tripp's hands and stood up, making his way to the kitchen to empty it before it did more harm. When the Crime Lab Lieutenant entered the small kitchen, however, he knew that it was right about time for him to step in. Empty bottles were scattered all over the kitchen counter.

'Oh, Frank...' Horatio thought as he emptied the rest of the bottle of liquor into the sink and put it down on the counter with the rest of empties. He needed to clean this mess, but there was something else that he needed to do first. He started with the upper cupboards and found nothing, but when he moved on to the lower ones he found two full bottles of liquor under the sink. He reached out to take them and uncorked them, pouring their contents into the sink like he had done with the other one.

He started looking for a box in which he could dump the empty bottles, then remembered Frank had a small glass container in his basement. Sighing, Horatio gathered as many of the bottles as he could carry. He'd have to go twice. "Oh, Francis," Horatio whispered to himself.

_Every now and then I get a  
little bit helpless and I'm lying like a child in your arms_

When Lieutenant Caine returned to the living room, he found his old pal crying. This was an image the redhead disliked seeing. He never would have thought he'd ever see Tripp like this, even though he knew that behind the tall, heavy features still beat a little heart of gold.

He sat himself back down on one knee in front of the now crying sergeant and took one of his hands, pulling it away from his face and grasping it tightly. "Easy breaths, Francis," Horatio encouraged, as the taller man started having trouble breathing through the heavy sobs that came from his chest. Suddenly, Tripp leaned forward and started sniveling freely into the redhead's shoulder. Horatio felt a little surprised and didn't quite know what to do next.

He gently patted his friend's shoulder as the balding one continued crying, perhaps closer to howling at this point. "She and her lawyer portrayed me as a... bad, and alcoholic father to our children, and I have no visitation rights anymore. I can't even see my own children!" Frank stuttered in between sobs and hiccups.

"Then why drink even more, Francis?" In response, the Sergeant's crying only increased, and Horatio gently patted his shoulder again. Maybe there would be a way to reverse the judge's decision, or to get an appeal with another judge. First, however, Tripp needed to get himself under control.

_Every now and then I get a  
little bit terrified but then I see the look in your eyes _

"I love you, man," Tripp let out, and suddenly he sounded more stable and sober at the same time.

Horatio didn't quite have an idea how to behave at hearing this, but he nevertheless replied, "Me, too." He could safely imagine hearing that someone still loved you made a difference in your way of thinking. It made you feel less replaceable, perhaps.

At his best friend's response, Frank suddenly pulled back and looked him in the eye. Unexpectedly, he crashed his lips upon the redhead's without thinking, and found himself liking it. His companion gradually seemed to give in to his sudden lust and Tripp smiled against the lieutenant's lips. When he pulled back and looked into these bright blue eyes, he could read doubt in them, but he'd make that disappear.

_Every now and then I get a  
little bit restless and I dream of something wild_

The two police officers lay in Frank's bed, still clothed, but making out as if their lives depended on it. Tripp's hands had gotten caught in the red headed man's shaggy hair, ruffling through the strands lustfully. Horatio on the other hand couldn't say he disliked the feel of the other man's rough lips against his either. His hands wandered down to unbutton Francis' shirt. He suddenly felt the unreasonable urge to plant his lips on the sergeant's chest.

He could feel something throbbing against the fabric of his tight boxers, which were only becoming tighter with the second. Horatio could feel the same arousal taking over his best friend, regardless of the fact that Tripp had probably consumed enough alcohol to render an elephant temporarily impotent.

_We can take it to the end of the line_

Tripp's body arched back as Horatio slowly moved his attention lower. The sensations that Horatio's tongue and lips were creating were exquisite, and all he wanted was for it to never end. "Oh, yes! Horatio!" The balding sergeant exclaimed as his companion began to bring him towards the edge.

"Frank!" The redhead shamelessly screamed, throwing his head back and twisting in pleasure as the sergeant's hand worked its magic. He couldn't contain the pleasure anymore. It rippled through his body like an avalanche, and soon, he knew, he'd let go, just like Tripp had done earlier.

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The two police officers looked at each other, smiling brightly. They were lying side by side in Tripp's bed, facing each other in afterglow. Maybe- Maybe Horatio should check up on Frank a little more often... He leaned in to plant his lips on the sergeant's cheek playfully, and Tripp returned it on the lips.

_Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time  
I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark  
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks  
I really need you tonight_


End file.
